Ukraine’s Self-Imposed Statism Crisis, Part II

October 4, 2025 by Dan Mitchell @ International Liberty

More than 10 years ago, I warned that Ukraine was suffering from statism.

In that column, I compared Ukraine’s economic anemia to Poland’s economic rebound and explained the gap was due to Poland’s pro-market reforms.

That same year, I explained that Ukraine was suffering from Putinomics.

 

Based on the latest data from Economic Freedom of the World, that’s still the case.

Both nations get terrible scores. Both are in the “least free” category. Both are economic laggards compared to almost all other nations in Eastern Europe.

Ukraine’s immediate crisis is ongoing war with Russian invaders, of course, but let’s think ahead to what should happen with hostilities finally cease.

In 2022 and 2023, I argued that Ukraine needs a dramatic shift to free markets.

That’s still true today, so I was very interested to see a column by Michael Tory in the Wall Street Journal that also addresses Ukraine’s economic future.

The good news is that he correctly identifies Russia’s economic backwardness and believes Ukraine could expose Putin’s bad economic policy be becoming more prosperous.

 

The most serious threat to Putin’s regime is the vast disparity in prosperity between Russia and the nations on its periphery that have escaped Moscow’s rule. Since 1990, the former Russian satellites that have joined the European Union have generated an almost 10-fold average increase in national GDP. By contrast, the national GDP of Russia itself and the non-EU countries on its western border have grown by just a factor of four over that same period. … 

As experience shows, such disparate economic performance among nations intimately linked by history and geography almost invariably leads to resentment. …Ukraine is, in effect, the tipping-point state. Once it joins the EU and generates economic growth comparable to the other former Soviet satellites already in the economic bloc, the gravitational pull of Ukraine’s prosperity will be irresistible for its three smaller neighbors. … 

The Russian public is so conditioned to view Ukraine as ethnically and linguistically similar to Russia that its prosperity would raise difficult questions inside Russia. If the countries are so much the same, the only plausible explanation for a radical divergence in their economic success would be the political and economic fundamentals of Russia itself.

The bad news is that Mr. Tory thinks that European Union membership is what produces economic prosperity.

 

His main evidence is this table which shows post-1990 growth in former communist nations.

At first glance, it does seem that EU membership is a driving force. And, having written that East European nations probably do benefit from joining the EU, I think this could be a partial explanation.

But notice that I’ve added red numbers to the left of every country’s name. And there seems to be a fairly strong relationship between those numbers and economic outcomes.

Well, those numbers are the rankings for economic freedom according to EFW.

In other words, what Ukraine needs is more economic liberty, regardless of whether it ever becomes a member of the European Union (and, if Ukraine does become a member, it should be very aware of the potential pluses and minuses).

Indeed, there is research showing that countries can enjoy faster growth by staying out of the EU.

P.S.  In a cruel bit of history, a single death may have blocked Ukraine from becoming free and prosperous.

As noted in a 2014 New Yorker article, the man who oversaw dramatic pro-market reforms in Georgia was about to be in charge of economic liberalization in Ukraine.

 

Bendukidze left Georgia for Ukraine, where President Petro Poroshenko asked him to become his economic adviser. Even though he was unsure whether Ukrainians would accept the changes that he wanted to carry out, he agreed to work with Poroshenko, friends say, because he saw Ukraine as the frontline of the battle for liberal reforms in the former Soviet states. …He advocated cutting government spending, reducing retirement benefits for public servants, and radically deregulating the economy. Ukraine, he said, in one of his last interviews, had too many ministries and agencies. ”Who needs them when the government’s sole function these days is to take money from the International Monetary Fund…” Bendukidze’s death, in London, came only days before he was expected officially to join Poroshenko’s cabinet.

Maybe Ukraine’s next step should be to invite Javier Milei to be in charge of reforms. Especially if Argentine voters opt for decline by voting for Peronists later this month. After all, if the left wins the mid-term elections, there will be very little chance of enacting the additional reforms that Argentina needs. So Milei may as go someplace that wants to be prosperous.

The 2024 Tax Hell Index

May 6, 2025 by Dan Mitchell @ International Liberty 

The 1841 Foundation has released a new version of the Tax Hell Index. And just like last year and in 2022, let’s see what nations qualified because of the combination of bad fiscal policy and low-quality governance. There is a tie for the world’s worst tax hell, So “congratulations” to Russia and Venezuela.

The Tax Hell Index mostly focuses on Europe and the Americas, which explains how some awful nations in Asia and Africa are not on the list.

I’m somewhat surprised that Romania is in the “risky” category, but I’m not shocked by Hungary since its policies are not good by European standards.

Some readers will be surprised to see Argentina tied for the third-worst tax hell, but the Index is based on 2023 data and President Milei did not take office until the end of that year.

So it will be interesting to see Argentina’s score in the next Tax Hell Index (and I’m also looking forward to how much that nation improves in Economic Freedom of the World and the Index of Economic Freedom).

Let’s hope the improvement is dramatic because Argentina is one of seven nations that has appeared in all four editions of the Tax Hell Index. Not exactly something to be proud about.

By the way, 10 countries ranked at “tax heavens,” with Ireland being the best of the best.

The United States was not among those nations, though it is a bit better than average. So lots of room for improvement, but I suspect America will get worse rather than better in future editions of the Index.

P.S. While I expect Argentina’s score to improve significantly, it will be very interesting to see what happens in Ukraine when the war ends. I don’t know when that will happen, but I’ll predict western nations will offer lots of aid for reconstruction. I fear that money will be wasted unless somehow it is used as leverage to improve Ukraine’s awful economic policy. But since foreign aid usually leads to more bad policy instead of good policy, it’s hard to be optimistic.

P&D Geopolitics Edition, Russia, Ukraine, and Donald Trump, Part III

Today the KGB, in all it's manifestations over the last 100 years, has now outlived communism and Russia is no longer a state with a security service, instead the security service has a state. 

By Rich Kozlovich, TagsP&D Geopolitics Edition: Russo/Ukrainian War, and Donald Trump, Putin

In December a Russian general was assassinated, and six days ago another Russian general was assassinated, very near Moscow, and it's not being done by the Russians, not their style when dealing with internal conflicts.  That's why they have gulags and work camps.  These were vehicle detonations and most likely done remotely.  

This might be viewed a small thing in the overall picture, but I see this in a different light.  I think it's a very large small thing, and is a foundational insight into the Russian military, their internal security is deteriorating, and I've stated in the past it seems likely to me there's a Claus von Stauffenberg cabal in their military.  As I read this I wondered if this isn't a subtle evidence of that being so, as it seems this required inside information.   Just a thought... as I said... subtle evidence. 

There are two camps in the Russian hierarchy, the war mongers who insist on fighting until total victory is attained, because like all criminals, they just can give up on the con.  They insistent on clinging to the fallacious argument NATO and Europe, with support from America, are now, and have been on the verge of attacking Russia.  The ridiculous "depth of defense" argument that's been used to justify their unwarranted attack on Ukraine by Russia.  I'll tell you what, we'll come back to that.

Then there's the group who sees reality and recognizes they need peace as a matter of practicality.  This was has cost them hundreds of thousands of young men who will no longer be around to contribute to their population, which has a serious demographic problem.  Ten years ago it was estimated by 2040 ethnic Russians would be a minority in their own nation.  That drop in the Russian ethnic demographic has now been speeded up - a lot.  Putin's insane war has put Russia's demographics in free fall.

Russia has seven defensive gaps they feel they must defend, and ten years ago they only had enough manpower to fully man three of them.  Now their manpower level is so bad there are now mercenaries from 48 nations with boots on the ground including N. Korea and China, seriously exposing the Russian military isn't a bear.   They're so desperate they've duped poor young Indian nationals desperate for foreign employment into fighting in Ukraine. In fact this war has turned into a meat grinder. A riot broke out over this in Krasnodar and their desertion problem is real.

The economics of this war is killing them and they want a restoration of economic stability and a return of international investments, but they don't want to make any concession until they conquer more territory. 

According to Ekaterina Zolotova, an expert analyst for Geopolitical, that's a reflection of the Russian mentality overall.   The majority want peace, a minority wants war, but a huge majority of all Russians insist there should be no concessions or minimal concessions.  That's Putin's conundrum. 

The drop in the price of oil and U.S. sanctions has caused Putin serious budget issues.  Central Asian nations that were former USSR republics are now doing more business with China, who is even wanting to fund building a small nuke power plant in one of these nations, and that's a pattern that won't end when this war is over.  

China's cut a "comprehensive strategic partnership" deal with Azerbaijan involving travel, trade, science, energy and...get this... tourism.   But here's the kicker.  They're agreeing to affirm mutual support for sovereignty and territorial integrity.   How far will that range?  As for right now Azerbaijan agrees that Taiwan is part of China and China agrees to support Azerbaijan in their conflict with Nagoya-Karabakh.   Didn't even know there was such a thing did you, but this is a major small conflict on Russia's border that's been going on for years, and one that Russia can't resolve due to this Ukraine war.  Azerbaijan is on the west cost of the Caspian Sea, right in Russia's back yard, and China is stepping in where Russia has failed.   Russians can't even manufacture their military needs, so China does, and has been doing so for some time.

Even Pakistan is involving themselves in the Russian sphere of influence, and truth be told, Putin needs to worry far more about China than NATO or the U.S.

Back to the "Depth of Defense" big lie.  In February Putin predicted Trump was going to make Europe's leaders ‘Bend at His Feet’ saying:

“They just don’t like Trump. They forgot him actively, really interfered in political life, in the election process of the United States. And then they were confused when Trump suddenly won,” Putin said. “But I assure you, Trump with his character, persistence, he will restore order pretty quickly. And all of them, you’ll see, it will happen quickly, soon, all of them will stand at the master’s feet and gently wag their tails.”

Why is that important?  It's a tacit acknowledgement that Putin understood who and what these European NATO "leaders" were and had to know they had no plans, desires, or ability to attack Russia.  

There have been prominent writers who claim Putin doesn't bluff, I think that's a load of horsepucky.  I've paid a lot of attention to him over the years, and read a lot of Russian history, and he's still practicing what Russian communists have been practicing since they took over, it's called maskirovka, a masquerade.  

The Russians always bluff unless they have an overwhelming advantage where there's no need bluff in order to get their way, then they just use the hammer.  Just like when the USSR crushed the Hungarian Revolution in 1956, or the Czech revolt known as the Prague Spring in 1968, where nothing could have stopped Soviet troops from overwhelming those nations.   That's not the case now, and what advantage he had has dissipated massively, at many levels.

Russia was considered the number two military nation in the world, which has been fighting a war against the 22nd military nation in the world for three years, but he's not going to launch nuclear weapons against Ukraine.  He can't take the risk of retaliation, and NATO is now aware of how dangerous Putin is, and is talking retaliation, which makes you wonder from where they're getting their natural gas now, and do they really want Warsaw or Berlin to become a nuclear waste land?  

But Putin really doesn't want Moscow to become one either, and I don't believe he will take that chance.  I also believe he's facing some internal political issues that scares him. Is there a Claus von Stauffenberg cabal within his military?  Absolutely!  Historically, being Caesar is the scariest most dangerous job in the world, or in this case Czar, without the religious trappings.  

There's always a Stauffenberg cabal, look at what happened to the American military establishment.  Would they take action if he attempted to use nukes?  I think so.  He's not the chess player we thought he was, but that's when he was dealing with nitwits like Obama, but I also don't think he's that stupid either. He's not really all that smart, he's just clever.  Even if there's no retaliation the international consequences will be massive.  He's already destroyed Ukraine far beyond his economic ability to rebuild it, and nukes would merely make it worse, so where's the victory? 

He's failed to defeat Ukraine in three years, and it's clear Russia's military, and especially it's military leadership are not all that after all.  Bad leadership, bad training, bad strategy, poor logistics, terrible planning, lousy intelligence, and stupid arrogant conclusions, all of which has been the problem with Russia for 125 years, going back to the the 1904 Russo/Japanese war, which Russia lost, and then WWI, which they lost.  They only defeated Germany in WWII because Germany was overstretched.... way over stretched....  and America provided much needed hardware, especially the Dodge truck.  

It's been said the Dodge truck saved the Soviet Union, as that allowed Stalin to quickly transport men and material around the country, which he was incapable of doing before that.  Horse cart supply lines don't cut it. If Germany had finished off England first, and hadn't declared war on America, Russia would have lost, badly, even with the 30 divisions he had stashed in Eastern Russia to repel a feared Japanese invasion.

This war has exposed just how fragile Russia is economically, industrially, and domestically.  As a result,  Putin's international credibly is in the toilet, and he needs for this war to go away.  He also needs to come out looking good, or at least not as the loser, since in Russia failed leaders aren't well tolerated, and I've no doubt, given the murderous thug he's been, he legitimately fears for his continued existence.  

He also knows France and others are talking about putting boots on the ground, and Trump didn't want to keep funding Ukraine any longer.  He clearly needs Trump to work some diplomatic magic as he did with the Abrahamic Accords, and that will have to be a multinational agreement that binds Russia to Ukrainian protection, which will require an entire restructuring of Ukraine's government.  Good luck with that, as each time they seem to reach an agreement one or both parties reneges, and Trump made it clear he's had it and is more than willing to walk away. 

But now Trump has allegedly cut a deal with Zalenskyy over mining in Ukraine, as a result, a fund would be created out of that to rebuild Ukraine and Trump is partially ending his ban on military hardware.  A lot of military hardware.   Fifty billion dollars worth of military hardware, so we'll see what happens, but make no mistake about this.  There are no good guys in this war, only one worse guy, and that's Putin.

There Won’t Be Peace in Ukraine

By Daniel Greenfield, @ Sultan Knish Blog

In recent years a conviction has taken hold among some on the right, usually held by the left, that wars were an unnatural state of affairs that would not exist without conspiracies by the military-industrial complex, profiteering defense contractors, warmongers, covert interests looking to spread chaos, and everyone and everything except the actual causes of wars.<>Most wars are fought to seize territory. They arise from tribal tensions between ethnic and national groups that provide the underlying impulses for the conflict.

Everything else, including geopolitical tensions and defense industries, are layers on top of this underlying reality of human nature as it has been for thousands of years.

Denying one of the most basic patterns of human history is an ideological fantasy. Hate the players like Putin or Zelensky, but the game is an old one that goes back hundreds of years. And it isn’t getting resolved today, tomorrow or a hundred years from now unless everyone dies.

Regardless of their leaders, the Ukrainians and the Russians have proven willing to fight and soak up hundreds of thousands of casualties. If they weren’t willing, then one side or the other would have collapsed by now. We know how quickly armies that don’t actually want to fight fall apart in the face of attrition. We’ve had recent examples of them in Afghanistan and Syria.

The Russians and Ukrainians want to fight each other because they genuinely hate each other. Anyone truly familiar with the region has already experienced that.

And anyone who hasn’t seen that hatred doesn’t understand the reality of the war. Anyone who does not understand this, who wants to pretend that the only reason these wars keep happening is because of Putin, Zelensky, NATO, the EU or some dark unseen force has no understanding of the region, history or human nature. There are local and global factors that led to this particular outbreak of fighting, but the current war is just the latest round of killing.

And as horrifying as the loss of life is, there’s something admirable about both sides sticking it out on the battlefield. Western Europeans, who were once willing to wreck a continent over territory and nationalism, now freely surrender their cities, homes and daughters to invaders. Imagine if the French and the English had the spine to fight off the invaders flooding their nations instead of asking how they can change their culture to better please these new arrivals.

War is to be deplored, but there are worse things than war. Like defeat. Or abject surrender.

“War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things: the decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks that nothing is worth a war, is much worse,” John Stuart Mill wrote.

The same sentiments that lead young men to die horribly on the battlefield also make patriotism and nationalism more than mere words that cynical college professors roll their eyes at in class.

Once upon a time we used to admire generals and soldiers who fought well, regardless of the side, before we were taught to view wars as a global shell game with the men fighting and dying as mere puppets of international bankers, and the whole thing not worth a single drop of blood.

That corrosive attitude, carefully nurtured by Marxists, almost doomed Western Europe before WWII, and drank it dry during the Cold War leaving men who would no longer fight for anything.

It was the Marxists and other Socialists who taught that war was a conspiracy of bankers, that nations were puppets of industrialists and capitalists starting senseless conflicts for profit and to distract the working class from the revolution. Eventually this cynical posture came to be widely accepted, spread by academia and the entertainment industry, and is now everywhere.

Westerners gave up on fighting, but no one else except a handful of other first worlders did.

Wars aren’t going anywhere. We’ve just forgotten how to fight them. And especially win them. We have ‘endless wars’ because in the twentieth century we came to believe that governments mattered more than nations and peoples, and that if we exchanged bad non-democratic governments for democratic ones, all the wars would end and endless peace would reign.

The same folly that started with WWI, the War to End all Wars, to ‘Make the World Safe for Democracy’, continued on through the ‘Nation Building’ democracy wars of the 90s and 00s.

We stopped fighting wars for clear national interests and with clear goals. So the wars became endless. But they never ended because they were not fought to be won and were never won.

The pursuit of ‘endless peace’ led to ‘endless wars’ and both are a myth. War is a natural condition of mankind. Peace isn’t. Nations and peoples fall from one into the other. Accepting this common sense reality will help us see the world as it is, rather than as a bunch of 19th century socialists decided that it ought to be seen, and will help us make good choices.

We can’t end wars or bring peace. We can choose to intervene in a war but we should do so if it serves our national interests not because of some fantasies about ending all wars. Just because some nations somewhere are fighting does not mean that we have to step in and do something.

Whatever we do in Russia and Ukraine will only lead to a temporary cessation of hostilities. If we respect the sacrifices both sides have made on the battlefield, we should understand that. We may have an interest in intervening to prevent further conflicts or we may not, but whatever we do will be a bandaid on history that will be torn off sooner or later by the peoples at war.

History, as even Hillary Clinton learned in Geneva, doesn’t come with a ‘reset button’.

Perhaps the best thing that the Trump administration could do is to step away from the war. If the Western Europeans (and some of the Eastern Europeans) really want Ukraine to win, then let them do what they can. A war may do for their backbones what generations of peace did not. And maybe they will even find the courage to clean the Augean stables of Jihad in their capitals.

Stranger things have happened.

Trying to bring peace to the Russia – Ukraine war is an even worse mistake than the war itself. Whatever their virtue, wars can at least be won, but peace is a choice for both sides. And we cannot choose for them. That is more nation building. Only they can choose their own futures.

 

Daniel Greenfield is a Shillman Journalism Fellow at the David Horowitz Freedom Center. This article previously appeared at the Center's Front Page Magazine. Click here to subscribe to my articles. And click here to support my work with a donation.  Thank you for reading. 

 

 

From the Back Forty: Heartlanders Cheer for the Trump-Vance Varsity

Hard lessons were learned in front of a live audience.

By Sarah Cowgill | Mar 2, 2025 @ Liberty Nation News, Articles, Opinion, Politics

Editor’s Note: From the Back Forty is Liberty Nation’s longest-running and most popular weekly column. 

Heartlanders, still reeling from the torrent of DOGE exposures, had a peek inside the Art of the Deal as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky paid a visit to the Oval Office and was sent packing after poking the wrong bear. Additionally, newly minted Attorney General Pam Bondi had folks up in arms for dangling the Epstein files “bombshell” all week long, then fumbling the ball on the one-yard line. No one From the Back Forty has time or patience for a tease. And one baseball legend will finally be awarded the respect he deserves, thanks to Donald Trump.

Are You Gonna Wear That?

President Volodymyr Zelensky showed up to a meeting on America’s most hallowed grounds, appearing as if he and Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) had just played a round of golf. The Ukrainian commander-in-chief, dressed in casual, somewhat athletic-looking attire, attempted to plead his case to the American people to fund his fight against Russia. As folks in middle America often say, “You can catch more flies with honey than with vinegar.” Maybe that adage doesn’t translate into Ukrainian well, as Zelensky tossed the virtual vinegar at Trump in America’s house.

The Oval Office was packed with people, including invited press, Vice President JD Vance, and Ukrainian Ambassador Oksana Markarova, who appeared to want to be anywhere else at that moment in time. As Zelensky poked and prodded, Vance called him out for disrespect: “I’m talking about the kind of diplomacy that’s going to end the destruction of your country. Mr. President, with respect, I think it’s disrespectful for you to come into the Oval Office and try to litigate this in front of the American media.”

Mike Hobbs, a rancher in Eastern New Mexico, was inspired: “JD Vance has mettle! Zelenskyy obviously arrived to collect more of our tax revenue, not seek peace and an end to the fruitless killing. I am exceedingly proud of Trump and Vance for staying focused. It has been a very long time since I have felt ‘stood-up-for’, aside from my bride! I am beyond grateful for Trump’s and Vance’s decorum today.”

Trump was frustrated. “We have empowered you to be a tough guy … You either make a deal, or we are out. You don’t have the cards,” he told the Ukrainian president before kicking him out of the meeting. Markarova did a facepalm that went viral – so much for diplomacy.

If anything, it was great TV. Within minutes of his eviction, Zelensky had apparently done a bit of introspection and posted a big thank you to America and POTUS for a great visit, insisting Ukraine wants lasting peace.

Chad Smith of North Carolina had his say, too. “When Zelenskyy began appealing to the emotions of the American people, JD Vance stepped in, accusing him of disrespecting Donald Trump. This was brilliant strategy,” wrote Smith. “It’s important to understand that Zelenskyy is trying to gain access to NATO. If Ukraine joins NATO, the U.S. would be bound by NATO’s collective defense agreement—an attack on one is an attack on all.”

In Illinois, Kelly Wilson simply advised: “You should not bite the hand that feeds you.”

The Bondi Bomb

When Attorney General Pam Bondi released her big reveal of The Epstein Files: Phase 1, the highly anticipated “gotcha” filled with “breaking news” that would “make you sick” was, in fact, a heavily redacted nothing-burger. Mostly, the binders contained blacked-out pages and flight logs that had already been made public.

That didn’t sit well with anyone, friend or foe.

 

“THIS IS NOT WHAT WE OR THE AMERICAN PEOPLE ASKED FOR and a complete disappointment,” Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL) wrote on X. “GET US THE INFORMATION WE ASKED FOR!”

Bondi turned the tables and claimed the FBI had withheld “thousands of documents.”

“Late yesterday, I learned from a source that the FBI Field Office in New York was in possession of thousands of pages of documents related to the investigation and indictment of Epstein,” Bondi wrote, according to the screenshot. “Despite my repeated requests, the FBI never disclosed the existence of these files.”

But wait a minute: Who is the boss, Ms. AG?

In Vallecito, CO, Sue Shanley wants names – not political protections: “Regardless of political affiliation…if a person was doing illegal stuff, name them! Go for prosecution!”

In the Four Corners, Paul Hayes was ready to take everyone to Gitmo: “Get the dirty alphabet boys and lock them up.” Scott Merritt also jumped on that train in Ohio: “Raid that office like the democrats would.”

Trump Makes America’s Pastime Great Again

This week, the president reiterated that the late Pete Rose, the all-time hit king in Major League Baseball, must be inducted into the Hall of Fame. Nicknamed Charlie Hustle, Rose set MLB career records, including 4,256 hits. “Over the next few weeks I will be signing a complete PARDON of Pete Rose, who shouldn’t have been gambling on baseball, but only bet on HIS TEAM WINNING,” Trump said on his Truth Social platform.

It’s News, Captain – But Different!

Heartlanders were supportive. In Zanesville, OH, Deborah Sherfy Merris piped up: “With all the crap that other athletes have done and got by with it, why is he still being punished?”

This Caddo Mills Texan, who uses the handle Chunk Y Tuna, had a thought: “If we are going to judge him, we need to start judging the politicians (99%) that bet on the businesses they regulate in the stock market!”

~

Liberty Nation does not endorse candidates, campaigns, or legislation, and this presentation is no endorsement.

 

Read More from Sarah Cowgill National Columnist

News and Views

By Rich Kozlovich

I've not posted much about the two debates because the national consensus is clear.  Both Trump and Vance won, hands down,  even with the help of a corrupt, antagonistic, and lying media promoting a leftist agenda, both Kamala and Walz looked like dimwits.

Ford has lost billions on their ridiculous electric vehicles agenda, and so what do they do? Double down on stupid.  It's mind boggling. The same people who are working to destroy the world's energy production, are the same people telling us to convert to electric vehicles. How in the world did that stupid gene become so ubiquitous? Answer, it was always been there, but mostly dormant, all that was needed to fan that ember of stupidity into flame was a thoroughly corrupted system of education. And it's here, and maybe ... just maybe....  it's a good time to look at eliminating tenure in academia.

• My 

But it gets better all the time.   It turns out if the world is going to embrace AI and quantum computing, and it is, then and in order to do that the energy needs are going to be ....MASSIVE....!  Far beyond what we're producing now, and so far beyond what all these idiotic "alternative" environmentally destructive energy schemes are capable of producing.  

These expensive alternative energy programs are at best unreliable, and so unreliable that traditional power plants have to be built and maintained and running on stand by in order to supply power when these stupid green sources fail to work, such as when the sun stops shining in the winter and the wind stops blowing in the summer. In order to have ‘alternative’ energy we have to pay for energy we aren’t using in order to pay for energy we don’t need. How stupid can we get?

Solution?  Traditional energy production ramped way up, and nuclear.  And guess who's all on board with that.  Mister (globalism is beautiful, all leftism is good and pure, reduce the world's population, eat bugs to save the world from global warming himself) Bill Gates.  Remarkable! 

FEMA is a DEI disaster, the left loves hurricane Helene, and while the people in these states are suffering terribly, the left loves it because conditions are so bad all these Republican strongholds may not:

 

"be able to cast their ballots".  Due to... "FEMA's arrogance and interference....... reportedly one director in North Carolina who was denying aid was beaten by locals frustrated by his conduct. In some other communities, local sheriffs threatened to arrest FEMA workers if they hindered rescue and aid work."  ...........FEMA blew out its budget to pay for illegals, now it's using its remaining resources to block aid from private citizens October 3, 2024 by Monica Showalter They're from the government and they're here to help themselves........  Axelrod gloats that North Carolina's Hurricane Helene victims in pro-Trump areas may be unable to vote.

 

Given their incompetence, and their corruption, and massive waste of America tax dollars I think we need to ask if it's time to abolish FEMA?

 

Biden wants to give millions to Lebanon, and billions to Ukraine, which is being stolen hand over fist, and then says he's out of money to give to Americans "who remain stranded, homeless, powerless, and without access to necessities like food and water.".........."Are American lives not as important to the Democrats as the lives of illegal aliens? Apparently not, in the eyes of the Democrats. Make no mistake about it, siege and starvation are tools of warfare. And the Democrats are, by calculation, waging war against the dying citizens of western North Carolina."......

But the real fault for this hurricane is global warming, right?  Well, since the world stopped warming over 25 years ago, it isn't global warming any longer, it's climate change, which encompasses everything and anything.  And we know it's true because the media says so. Or then again.....is it possible they're lying?  

However, I now think we all should give CNN a round of applause.   In spite of all their lies and corruption, (if lies and corruption defined being a predator, they'd be an apex predator)  they've apparently decided it would be financially better for them to have less viewers than they do now, which has been steadily shrinking.  So, they've now decided you will have to pay a monthly fee of $3.99 to watch them spout their lies.  What could possibly go wrong?  I wonder if anyone there remembers just how successful their pay for view CNN+ streaming service worked for them?  For those who don't know, it failed.

Let's try and get this right.  Anthropogenic Global Warming is one of the greatest scientific frauds ever perpetrated on humanity, and if the media embraces it, you know it's a lie. This link will take you to my global warming commentaries.

Helene was a monster storm destroying homes, power infrastructure, bridges, destroying whole towns, killing over 200 people with untold numbers still missing, through out Tennessee, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, and North Carolina.  The estimated cost? Over three hundred billion dollars.  But not to worry, America is going to provide $157 Million in humanitarian aid to people affected by  the crisis in Lebanon.   And who are these people in Lebanon?  

(Remember the people displaced there are Hezb'allah who started the war, not the Christians, Druze, and Sunni Moslems whose communities Israel did not target and who remain safely in place.)

As for those Americans devastated by Helene, Kamala  says:

“… the federal relief and assistance that we have been providing has included FEMA providing $750 for folks who need immediate needs being met, such as food, baby formula, and the like.  And you can apply now.”  

Wow, a whole $750 bucks from the Obama/Biden/Kamala/Walz/Mayorkas cabal, while Dolly Parton is personally donating a million dollars for hurricane Helene relief efforts.  Why's FEMA out of money?  Because they lavished their funds on illegal migrants.  The agency Mayorkas claimed two months ago was totally prepared for such and event.  

Who really is Kamala's base?  Let's try this: Those who are mentally disturbed, amoral, immoral, dependent on government in some way, along with those who are ignorant and stupid. What could possibly go wrong?  A lot!  If there was any doubt America's military leadership has been corrupted by Obama resulting in a military that's incapable of defending the nation, we now have over 200 retired Generals and Admirals endorsing Trump and address why they feel that's necessary. 

Talking more about doubling down on stupid, there's always, Liz Chaney, who the Democrats now love, along with her father, the man they vilified as a real life Darth Vader for decades, and now believe these two misfits are going to rally a massive number of Republicans against Trump.  "What a time to be alive."   

Well Liz, enjoy the limelight.  The Republicans hate you, and the Democrats are laughing at you, and when the election is over, no matter how it turns out, no one will want you around them, because your legacy will be a Benedict Arnold legacy, right along with your dad.  I often wonder what her mother thinks, since she's been silent over all this.   Liz is now campaigning with Kamala, and I know the real reason for that.   It's a competition to see who can be crowned the most unlikable person in America.   I'm just surprised George Conway isn't on the stage with them.  George Conway claims Trump is another Hitler and a cancer on American life, and  Caroline Giuliani, Rudy Giuliani's daughter says Trump as a disease’.   Does anyone beside me think that falls under the category of being justifiably certifiable?

Then we have Democrats, masters at projection, accusing Trump of election interference, which is like Stalin accusing someone of being inhumane.   

"That is the ultimate danger of a Harris/Walz administration. Starting from deep in the well of corruption, how much lower will they go? The answer: as low as necessary to destroy the republic and replace it with “our democracy.” 

"As the venerable saying goes, you can vote your way into socialism, but you have to shoot your way out."

Finally, we just gotta see the humor in this.  Mexico's new President, Claudia Sheinbaum who is defined in one word, leftist, and appears with the approval of the drug cartels, has been sworn in what's being called a ‘Satanic’ Inauguration Ceremony.   A nation awash in murder, child sex trafficking, illegal drugs, much of which goes on with the corrupt acceptance of government officials, is now wanting to sue America gun makers for ten billion dollars.  Yep, all that corruption is the fault of American gun makers.    

It's not only time for a border wall, it's time we totally shut down immigration, deport all the illegals, most of them to Mexico who allowed them to cross their country into America, and end the North American Trade agreement putting massive tariffs on anything coming from Mexico, or even cutting Mexico out of the picture entirely. 

P&D and The Week That Was

Truth is the Sublime Convergence of History and Reality

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De Omnibus Dubitandum, (Everything is to be questioned!)

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By Rich Kozlovich

 

Well, just when you think it can't get any crazier, another week flies by and you find, you're wrong, it really can get crazier.   

The Longshoremen went on strike with their leader swearing to destroy America, and now we have a "temporary" return to work with a substantial pay increase.  But that's not the issue.  It's automation, and ultimately, that's a losing issue for the union. 

the federal prosecutor who isn't a federal prosecutor, going before a corrupt Trump hating judge is trying an end run around the Supreme Court's decision on Presidential Immunity, and as I read that I couldn't help be think of that scene in a Few Good Men where:

Lt. Weinberg: [sarcastically to Joanne with Danny present, in an empty courtroom after the trial has been adjourned for the day] "I strenuously object?" Is that how it works? Hm? "Objection." "Overruled." "Oh, no, no, no. No, I STRENUOUSLY object." "Oh. Well, if you strenuously object then I should take some time to reconsider."

All these cases against Trump are collapsing.   The review of the cases in New York aren't going well for the prosecutors with the appeals court in effect asking how can there be a crime of fraud if no one is a victim?  In Georgia the prosecutor, and her paramour may even end up in prison.  And it seems clear to me there will be a RICO investigation over all this if Trump is elected.  

Israel has in effect told Biden, Blinkin, the UN, the EU to take their advice and shove it, and declared this is a win or die war for them.  Neither Russia or Iran officially declared war on Ukraine and Israel, and the UN doesn't seem to mind that, but when Israel strikes back, they must use restraint, agree to a cease fire, and a two state solution.  Their goal? The destruction of Israel and they just can't seem to understand why Netanyahu won't go along with that.  Bibi gets it, this is a do or die war.

Robin Itzler added an interesting chuckle fest side bar in her weekly newsletter about those pagers and walkie-talkies that either seriously wounded or killed over 3000 Hezhollah fanatics.  It turns out they were invented by Irving "Al" Gross, a Jew.

As for Lebanon, it seemed to me the only answer was to break Lebanon up into separate countries, Christian and Muslim.  I asked one of my geopolitical experts who I correspond with occasionally if that was a potential?  His answer: 

Lebanese Christians are already demanding federalism. They have come to the conclusion that Greater Lebanon, which was declared in 1920 by General Henry Gouraud, French General Commissioner for the Levant, has failed. 

Are Republicans actually getting smart about debates?  Trump won't sit for an interview with 60 Minutes, and the poor little muff muffs are whining about it, at least until they apologize. 

They came to me and would like me to do an interview, but first I want to get an apology because the last time I did an interview with them, if you remember, they challenged me on the computer. They said the laptop from hell was from Russia. And I said it wasn’t from Russia, it was from Hunter [Biden]. And I never got an apology, so I’m sort of waiting. I’d love to do 60 Minutes. I do everything. … The laptop from hell was from Hunter. It wasn’t from [Russia]. … If you remember, Lesley Stahl, we got into a little bit of an argument … and they really owe me an apology. … Let’s see if they do it. I wouldn’t mind doing 60 Minutes.

 

Two things.  The Pravda media is toast, ignoring them is ascendant, attacking them is on the rise, and any debates from this point on should be orchestrated by conservatives picking the moderators, none of which should ever again be lying, corrupt Pravda media hacks.  And if they don't like it, tell them to shove it.  And even with the corruption by the media, both Kamala and Walz looked like dimwits.

Putin's again threatening to use nukes, as he's done over and over again, but recently I've discovered, at least the claim is when this broke out the US warmed Putin if he did use nukes every Russian asset around the world would be destroyed with conventional forces.  If that's true that would explain much of what he's doing lately in an attempt to show he's not afraid of such an action.  He is afraid.  His economy is in trouble, China's is in trouble, their societies are upset at their leadership.  

As for Zelenskyy (correct spelling) his con has run it's course, and his stand of no compromise will end or Ukraine will cease to exist.  Based on Europe's economic woes, and Trump's view of this whole thing, the funding is going to dry up, and soon. Biden has agreed to give him eight billion dollars, all most likely untracked, as has been the pattern, but he says he has no money for the victims of hurricane Helena.  Good thinking on Biden's part just before an election.  But given his history, Kamala's history, Walz's history, and the history of the Democrat party, why are we surprised? 

This week I have six commentaries of my own and eighteen by others, with the four permanent links.  Fall is here, winter is on the way, most of my projects are finished, and it's time to start working the ground for fall planting, and I like that, as even a newsie like me can only stand so much. 

Enjoy today's offerings, and remember warm memories never wear out their welcome in our lives.  Have a warm memory weekend.

My Commentaries

1. Mark Brown: Did He or Didn't He?
2. The Longshoreman Strike and Automation
3. Well, It's Started, The Third Lebanon War
4. Ya Just Can't Make This Stuff Up!
5. Will This Stolen Election Create a Third Party?  
6. Avoiding the Ranks of the Insane  

Commentaries

1. The Missing Factors of Jack Smith’s Latest Trump Filing By Mark Angelides
2. It's Time the Legal System Went After Obama By Susan Daniels
3. State courts should not be writing US climate laws  By Paul Driessen
4. Critically Thinking about "My Body My Choice" By John Droz, Jr.
5. A Longshoreman Strike Is Bad for America – But Worse for Kamala By James Fite
6. FEMA’s DEI Crippled Hurricane Helene Response By Daniel Greenfield
7. Here's Where the 2024 Election Stands By Robin Itzler
8. Jews Get Out, and Catholics Don't Matter By Robin Itzler
9. Kamala Harris, Tim Walz, The Democrat Party, and the Bill of Rights By Robin Itzler
10. The Greater "Threat To Democracy", Part III -- Democrats Rule Even If Republicans Win By Francis Menton
11. More On The Adams Indictment By Francis Menton
12. Growth Should Trump Envy By Dan Mitchell
13. Dependency Nation By Dan Mitchell
14. Social Security: Debunking the Debunking By Dan Mitchell
15. Never-Ending Statism Is Responsible for India’s Dismal Economic Outlook By Dan Mitchell
16. The Depressing Saga of Cuban Socialism By Dan Mitchell
17. Did Iran Make a Mistake It Can’t Take Back? By Dave Patterson
18. Cotton Candy or Salt? By Rob Pue

Permanent Links

1. 45 Communist Goals to Destroy America as Listed in the 1963 Congressional Record
2. My Seven Rules of Geopolitics
3. The John Boyd Legion of Honor
   
4. An Analysis: Senate Race 2024 and More.  10/7/2024 Update!

Constant as the North Star

You know that voice in your head that keeps you from saying the things you shouldn't say?  Yeah, well, I don't have that!    We need to question everything because everything we're told should bear some resemblance to what we see going on in reality!  Much of what we're told does not!